Why are people so caught up on likes?

No business in their right mind, would spend time, money and resources on something that would not generate more sales. Especially the top brands in the world.

It may seem like on the outset, they are just there to reach customers where they work and play but I can assure you that if that effort doesn't result in sales at some point in time, the manager of those profiles will find themselves jobless real quick.

Says the guy that thinks Pepsi isn't on Facebook to make more sales lol. You may want to check their page and then post, you missed that point too.

The journey may be different, the destination is the same. They are there to get more sales period!

No, not usually. That's the part you keep missing.

That would depend on the purpose of the page now, wouldn't it.

Some people create Facebook pages to sell a product. Others create them for entirely different purposes that have nothing to do with marketing products to people. The flaw in your argument is that you've approached this topic under the assumption that all Facebook pages exist to sell a product, while completely ignoring the fact that many pages exist only to engage consumers or drive traffic. I'll try this one more time before I give up on you...

Here's a short counter point I didn't mention earlier: If your business model is traffic driven (say, a newspaper that makes its money on ad clicks) then Likes are the ONLY thing that matters because you have no product to sell. You want them to see your content and click on it and nothing else. So that alone negates your entire argument that the only reason someone would want Likes is to "get sales".

But back to brands... the majority of consumers active on social networks, who have already made a purchase decision believe a brand's Facebook page is more important than a brand's website. I bolded that part because it's important: it means they already knew about you and wanted to buy what you had, now they're doing their due diligence and seeing how you interact with the customers you already have.

Now, as a business, knowing that consumers place so much value on the content of your Facebook page, if all they ever see when they get there are low follower counts and a bunch of marketing junk, what perception do they walk away with of your business? Now compare that to the perception they would get if they saw thousands, or even millions, of happy followers liking and sharing all of the cool stuff you post? It reinforces their decision to purchase.

It's called "social proof". There are people looking at your page that will never hit the Like button. If you honestly still think a business should only have an engaging Facebook presence to market things to people, and that there is no value in attracting followers that you have no intention of selling to, then what can I say, the concept of consumer engagement and "brand essence" is over your head. At this point I'm kind of curious why you even started this thread since, in your head at least, you seem to have all the answers.